Took the kids for ice cream, and the younger one loved the vanilla-caramel-fudge-chocolate chip-cookie dough monstrosity I purchased. My older one stayed sane and got strawberry with sprinkles. Things were fine, and then almost went to hell.
Some twit came in wearing a shirt that said something like ‘Anti-Vax Means Pets Too.’ I’m still too pissed to remember the actual verbiage, but that was close. I was inches from going off in grand fashion and cussing this moron out in front of the whole ice cream parlor staff. He left pretty fast, which is just as well. The tirade I would have unleashed would have resulted in a call to law enforcement, and probably a permanent ban from said ice cream place.
So, in case this ***hole finds this blog, here’s what I would have liked to have said:
You don’t like vaccines for pets, or people, I gather? Oooh…big bad guvmint telling me what I can and can’t do with my pets! I do what I want hurhurhur.
Let me ask you something…have you ever seen rabies in action? That is one pet vaccine that is mandated in my state (and most/all others, I think).
I have. Let me enlighten you on what your pet will endure if you refuse to make at least a token effort to protect them.
If your pet is presenting with the raging form of rabies, more than likely it will be shot by either a private citizen or law enforcement. This goes double if you live in a more rural area. That’s how your pet gets to die…with a bullet or two in them. What if they present with the dumb form?
Oh, you didn’t know rabies can show up a few different ways? Yeah, it does. In general, smaller animals like dogs, cats, skunks, etc. will present with the raging form, while livestock is more likely to display the dumb form. By ‘dumb,’ I mean the animal will just stand or lie there, breathing, heart beating, but unresponsive to just about anything, even pain. They look like the next closest things to zombies. I got to see a horse like this. Yes, it was put down shortly after. No, I don’t ever want to see it again.
So what if your pet displays the dumb form, is darn near comatose when you bring it to the emergency veterinarian, and you LIE about the vaccination status of your pet to us (though we as a staff suspected something was amiss when we observed the partially healed bite wound on one of the dog’s legs)? Of course we are going to treat it, though it’s kind of rough when we don’t know what’s wrong, since, you know, you kind of lied to us. But we’re smart, right? We will figure it out.
Yeah, we’ll figure it out when your pet wakes up long enough to tear open one of the clinicians from wrist to elbow, then promptly coded and died. I was standing not six feet away from this, treating another patient. Clinician goes to ER for his injury, which ultimately required surgical repair. That’s when you decide to tell us that your dog hadn’t been vaccinated for rabies in over five years.
Oh really? Well, sir, now you get to find out what happens to your pet if they are a rabies suspect.
First, the animal is euthanized if they are still alive. Your dog saved us that step. Next, their head is removed from the rest of the body. The brain is then inspected macroscopically and microscopically for evidence of the disease. Yes, you read that right. We cut open your pet’s head and take the brain. Once testing is done and lab results in, your pet is cremated and you can collect their ashes (though frankly you don’t deserve them, you P.O.S.).
That night was one of the worst in my four and a half years as an emergency and critical care veterinary nurse assistant. There’s only a few that could top that one, and let’s say those nights go a long way to explaining why the suicide rate among veterinary professionals is WAY higher than average.
Sorry. Had to get that off my chest. That dude really set my kettle boiling.
Hilary